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Algebra Difficulty 7.7 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Taiwan

Let xx and yy be positive real numbers such that x+y=2x + y = 2. Prove that
2+xy(1+xy)2xy+2yx. 2 + xy(1 + xy) \geq 2x^y + 2y^x.

Solution

By the weighted AM-GM inequality we have
2x×y+2×(2y)y+(2y)(2x)y×22yxy+(2y)4xy(xy+2y)24xy. \begin{aligned} \frac{2x \times y + 2 \times (2-y)}{y + (2-y)} &\ge \sqrt{(2x)^y \times 2^{2-y}} \\ \Rightarrow xy + (2-y) &\ge \sqrt{4x^y} \\ \Rightarrow (xy + 2 - y)^2 &\ge 4x^y. \end{aligned}
Similarly we have
(xy+2x)24yx. (xy + 2 - x)^2 \ge 4y^x.
Adding the two expressions gives
4xy+4yx(xy+2y)2+(xy+2x)2=2(xy+2)22(x+y)(xy+2)+x2+y2=2{(xy)2+4xy+4}{4xy+8}+(x+y)22xy=2(xy)2+2xy+4. \begin{aligned} 4x^y + 4y^x &\le (xy + 2 - y)^2 + (xy + 2 - x)^2 \\ &= 2(xy + 2)^2 - 2(x + y)(xy + 2) + x^2 + y^2 \\ &= 2 \{ (xy)^2 + 4xy + 4 \} - \{ 4xy + 8 \} + (x + y)^2 - 2xy \\ &= 2(xy)^2 + 2xy + 4. \end{aligned}

Dividing both sides of the inequality by 2 completes the proof.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from zh; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.